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KSA ‘has golden opportunity to attract global investments’

RIYADH: SHARIF M. TAHA|Published — Wednesday 22 January 2014

Saudi Arabia has the golden opportunity to attract global investments and is moving in the “right way” to become the leading manufacturing country in the region, said Andrew Liveris, president and CEO of Dow Chemical.The Dow chief’s remarks came at the Seventh Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh. His work paper focused on manufacturing, partnership, sustainable development, innovation, and industrializationObserving that each job in a manufacturing plant creates three others, he said advanced manufacture always acted as the engine of innovation, facilitating over 90 percent of spending on research.He said his company had entered into partnership with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and had jointly worked out a plan for advanced manufacturing in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is one of the leading oil exporting countries but oil alone will not support industrial growth, he said.The Dow chief also referred to a 40-year-long partnership with Juffali Group.Saudi Arabia is poised to become the first manufacturing country in the region, notably in creating more jobs and development based on partnership and exploitation of available opportunities, he said.Mutasim Al-Mashouq, deputy president of Saudi Aramco for business development, traced the history of the company in support of mega projects and entrepreneurship.Saudi Aramco facilitated entrepreneurs to put forth their industrial plans through Wa’ed project, which targets small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom, he said.Speaking at the session, Deputy CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) Mutlaq Al-Miraishid said his company had adopted the “Made in Saudi Arabia” concept since its inception. The petrochemical sector has become robust in the Kingdom, thanks to plans and partnerships concluded between SABIC and other manufacturers, he said.